NLL

Jones Helps Rock Rally by Vancouver

from Press Release

Watch the game replay in its
entirety from The Lacrosse Network on YouTube (Fast-Forward to
17:00 for the opening faceoff)

The Colorado Mammoth (1-1) defeated the Vancouver Stealth (0-1)
with a thrilling 13-12 home win before a crowd of 15,101 at Pepsi
Center on Saturday night. The Mammoth earned their first win of the
season and only the team's second win in their last 13 matchups
with the Stealth. Fans who watched the game live on TSN2 in Canada
or on ESPN3 and Altitude in the United States saw some of the best
action that the sport has to offer.

An offensive burst late in the second half was key in Colorado's
victory, scoring nine in an effort led by Adam Jones (3g, 1a) and
Drew Westervelt (3g, 2a).

"A win's a win's a win in this league, it's a grind. I thought
we showed a lot of resilience," said Mammoth head coach Bob Hamley.
"We got off to a good start which we wanted, we had a little low,
but Dillon Ward held the fort for us. Offense got going, transition
got going; I thought our 'D' did a good job too. It's a one-goal
league and we're happy to be on the right side of it."

Ward picked up the win in a relief effort for Tye Belanger,
recording 30 saves on 38 shots.

"Just to see the team battle back and stay the course like that,
we stuck to our game plan, bared down a little bit and we just
gutted one out," said Ward.

Westervelt kicked off the Mammoth offense with back-to-back
goals just 50 seconds apart. Cameron Holding would add one more for
the home team in the opening frame, while Rhys Duch tallied the
lone score for the Stealth.

Vancouver captain Kyle Sorensen was ejected and assessed a
five-minute major and game misconduct at the 3:24 mark of the first
quarter for a high sticking call involving Colorado's Westervelt.
The Stealth would kill off the penalty and in return would swing
momentum in their favor, tallying five in the quarter, including
one by Tyler Digby, his first career goal, while simultaneously
holding Colorado to a lone score and holding a 6-4 lead at
half.

The Mammoth came storming back late in the third quarter,
scoring five in a span of 5:55, three of which came in the final
minute, to take a 10-9 lead heading into the final 15 minutes.
Jones led the charge for Colorado in the fourth, contributing two
key goals late in the quarter to secure the team's first home win
of the season.

"It's a game of runs, it was good to be on the other side of
that tonight," Jones quickly chimed.

Duch (4g, 2a) led all runners in scoring for the game, while
Digby (3g, 3a) and Alex Gajic (1g, 7a) impressed Stealth head coach
Chris Hall in their performances.

"They got on a bit of a roll and we gave up a couple goals,"
Hall said. "We made some mistakes late in the game. We turned the
ball over twice at center which was bad fundamentals...It didn't
help either playing with 15 runners most of the game."

From a player's perspective, Duch simply said a game can swing
either way, especially if a team does not execute adequately for a
full game.

"I think it was a classic case of playing 50 minutes of good
lacrosse and played terribly for 10, and they took full advantage
of it...momentum swings like that are costly in this league, Duch
added."

Tyler Richards played the full 60 minutes for Vancouver in net,
stopping 34 of 47. Belanger was pulled in the second quarter after
a 9 for 13 effort in favor of Ward to finish for the Mammoth.

Vancouver will look to earn their first win during their home
opener at Langley Events Centre on Saturday, Jan. 11 against the
Minnesota Swarm (0-1). Meanwhile, Colorado will travel to Alberta
that night to take on the Calgary Roughnecks (0-1) for their first
road game of the 2014 NLL season.